Towel-dispensing apparatus



Jan. 16, 1951 T. E. EVANS 2,538,238

TOWEL-DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 15, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet lElmo/whom 72f VOR f. fm/vs Jan. 16, 1951 T. E. EVANS TOWEL-DISPENSINGAPPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 15, 1943 3mm I J 6, 1951 T. E.EVANS 2,538,238

TOWEL-DISPENSING APPARATUS I Filed Dec. 15, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 firm nE. EVA/VJ ATT) Patented Jan. 16, 1951 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICETOWEL-DISPEN SING APPARATUS Trevor E. Evans, Youngstown, OhioApplication December 15, 1943, Serial No. 514,397

11 Claims. 1

This invention relates to towel-dispensing apparatus, and, moreparticularly, .to apparatus 7 of this type adapted automatically todischargea clean towel when a soiled towel is deposited therein.

Heretoforain machine shops and other manufacturing orservicingestablishments it has been the usual practice to employ ragsfor wiping machine parts, cleaning hands,and in other like operations.However, while at first blush this procedure .seems reasonablysatisfactory and 'inexpensive, actually it is wasteful, inefficient, andexpensive, because the rags are non-uniform as to size or quality,andthey are wasted and thrown away or left around to become fire hazards.

It has been proposed .to employ towels supplied by service orfactory-owned laundries, .and while this procedure has the advantage ofproviding high quality, uniform size wiping material, the averageworkman is often apt to misuse the towels or lose them, thereby largelydefeating the advantages of and raising the costs on the towel depositedtherein.

.Another object of my invention is to provide apparatus of the characterdescribed, including means for delivering a clean towel to a workmanwhen he deposits a metal check therein, which check he is given when hehires in to work.

Another object of my invention is the provision of relativelyinexpensive, long-wearing, substantially foolproof toweledispensingmechanism in cabinet form, which is easily serviced, to supply cleantowels and remove soiled towels.

Another object of the invention is to provide towel-dispensing mechanismwhich is started into operation to deliver a clean towel when a dirtytowel and substantially only a dirty towel isinserted into the mechanismin the proper way.

The foregoing objects of my invention, and other objects which willbecome apparent as the description proceeds, are achieved by theprovision of suitable apparatus, one embodiment thereof beingillustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a verticalcross-sectional view through the cabinet of the apparatus,

and taken substantially on line II of Fig. 2

Fig. '2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on lineI-I-II of Fig. 1; 'Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of one of thetowel pickup claws; Fig. 4 is aschematic wiring diagram of theapparatus; Fig. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary detail of the stackelevator ratchet; Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on line VIVI ofFig. 2; Fig. '7 is a fragmentary front elevation of the soiled towelreceiving opening; and Fig. 8 is .a view similar to Fig. 4 butillustrating a modification. of the apparatus wherein hand power isemployed.

Having particular reference to Figs. '1 and 2 of the drawings, thenumeral I0 indicates gen.- erally a cabinet which serves to house theapparatus, and, generally, but not necessarily functioning as aframework also. The cabinet to is adapted to receive a stack .of cleantowels T lying flat, one on top of another and to raise the stack oftowels the thickness of one towel each time a towel is discharged fromthe stack. To this end, a plurality of uprights 12, mounted on the baseIA of the cabinet 'lil, are provided, whichslidably receive foryerticalimovement an .elevator platform It upon which the towels T are.placed.

In order to raise the platform 16 the thickness of one towel each time aclean towel is .dis-. charged, :means may be employedsuchas a chain 20,anchored at one end to a bracket .22 on the cabinet 10 and extendingaround idle pulleys 24' carried on the bottom of the platform 16. Fromthe pulleys 24 the chain .extends over a driving pulley 25 mounted on ashaft 28 journaled in the cabinet, and the .end of the chain isconnected to a weight 30 which counterbalances'part of the weight of thetowels untilgthe weight strikes the base of the cabinet when about halfof the towels are picked off the stack. T

The shaft 28 is adapted to be turned through a small are each time atowel is picked off the stack to thereby turn the drive pulley totightenv the chain and raise the platform the thickness-of a towel. Thisis achieved by providing an electrio motor 3% on a bracket 38 whichmotor operates through a gear box 40 to turn a shaft 42 which carries acam a l. As best seen in Fig.2, the cam '44 engages a follower 46slidable in av bearing 48 and normally urged toward the cam by acompression spring '50 'The bottom'of the follower it pivotally supportsat 52 a ratchetEi-t, see Fig. '5, adapted to engage with a toothedratchet wheel 56 mounted on the shaft 28. A

compression spring 58 permits clockwise tilting movement of the ratchet54 about the pivot '52, but the ratchet cannot tilt in acounter-clockwise direction about the pivot '52 from the position shownin Fig. 5. The result is that when the cam 44 moves the follower 46 downthe ratchet 54 engaging with the ratchet wheel 56 causes the wheel tomove the distance of one tooth to thereby raise the platform I6 thethickness of one towel. The spring acts to return the follower 46 to itsuppermost position and this movement may be limited by a pin 60, and inthe return movement of the follower the ratchet 54 tilts and slides overone tooth of the ratchet wheel 56 to be ready for the next movement ofthe cam 44. A ratchet mechanism 64, which may be mounted at the end ofthe shaft 28 remote from the ratchet wheel 56, is provided to preventthe return rotary movement of the shaft 28 under the weight of the stackof towels. See Fig. 6.

For the purpose of picking up the top towel from the stack of towels, arectangular frame 10 is provided which is secured to the shaft 42, asbest seen in Fig. 2, for oscillating movement with the shaft from thedotted line to the full line position shown and return. One end of theframe 10 is provided with a counterweight l2, and the opposite end ofthe frame extends out over the towel stack. The end of the frame overthe towel stack pivotally supports a shaft 14- which carries two pairsof pickup fingers each comprising a channel-shaped base 16 of narrowwidth welded to the shaft 14 and supporting one or more magnets 18 whichserve to pull a narrow clamp bar 80 spring-hinged to the base I6, fromthe open dotted line position to the clamping solid line position shown.The pivotal mounting of the shaft 74 allows the pickup fingers to hangvertically at all times and regardless of where the frame 10 ispositioned, but to further insure the vertical position of the pickupfingers, offcenter weights 84 may be secured to the ends of the shaftI4.

The shaft 42 which controls the position of the pickup frame 10 isadapted to be oscillated, as before mentioned, to move the frame fromthe dotted-line position to the full-line position and return. Themanner of achieving the required rotary movement can best be understoodby having reference to the schematic wiring diagram of Fig. 4 whereinthe numeral 90 indicates a plug to connect the apparatus to a source ofelectric power, with electric leads 92 running through a reversingswitch 94 to the motor 36. Leads 96 extend through a tilting mercuryswitch 98 to a solenoid IUD which when energized reverses the switch 94to reverse the motor 36. The operation of the solenoid I60 alsofunctions to close a switch I02 positioned in leads I04 extending to themagnets 18.

The apparatus just described operates when the motor 36 is energized tomove the pickup frame 10 from the dotted-line position of Fig. 1 to thefull-line position. Just at the time the frame 10 reaches the full-lineposition the mercury switch 98, which is mounted on the shaft 42, closesto thereby energize the solenoid I00, which is of the time-delay type,and thus closes the circuit to the magnets 18 which operate the pickupfingers on the top towel (the ends of the pickup fingers may be formedwith teeth to facilitate the pickup operation) and simultaneously thesolenoid reverses the switch 94 and the motor 36 to start the frame onits return movement. The circuit to the motor 36 is broken to stop themotor and de-energize the magnets 18 of the pickup fingers to drop thetowel. The dropped towel is received in a chute I I0 and is dischargedfrom the front of the cabinet.

Turning now to the means for initiating the operation of the motor 36and for stopping the motor, such means being actuated by depositing asoiled towel in the cabinet, a photoelectric cell H4 is secured in thecabinet in line with a light beam directed from a spot light I I6. Theoutput of the photoelectric cell is connected, as illustrated in Fig. 4,to normally hold open a time delay relay I I8. However, when the lightbeam passing to the photoelectric cell is broken the relay I I8 releasesto close the circuit to the motor and to the leads and I04. Thisinitiates the operation of one complete cycle of the apparatus, in thatthe apparatus continues to function until the time delay relay operatesto again open the circuit at the completion of the cycle. The solenoidI06 will be timed to open substantially simultaneously with the relay II8.

One manner of breaking the light beam to initiate the operation of theapparatus is to provide a check or token slide I24 which is secured tothe side of the cabinet I0 and extends to a point adjacent the lightbeam so that when a workman drops an appropriately shaped metal check(which he receives when he is hired) into the slide it passes downthrough the slide and breaks the light beam before dropping into asuitable receptacle (not shown).

The operation of the apparatus can also be initiated by depositing asoiled towel therein to break the light beam. To this end, a hoodedopening I28 having a width slightly greater than the width of a toweland a vertical height slightly greater than the diameter of a rolled-uptowel, is provided in the cabinet through which the towel can beintroduced and from which the towel falls through the light beam into acontainer I30 for soiled towels. If desired, and to prevent anypossibilities of spontaneous combustion, the container I30 may bepartially filled with water. The container is readily removed from thecabinet I0 by access thereto through a normally locked door. Similarly,the clean towels can be introduced through the same or another door inthe cabinet.

In order to prevent the operation of the apparatus by other means thansoiled towels, I provide a bar I32 on the cabinet which extends outsubstantially vertically over the light beam and to one side of thecenter of the opening I 28. By positioning the bar I32 vertically abovethe light beam it is impossible to drop objects through the hoodedopening I28 which will interrupt the light beam because such objects hitthe bar and are deflected. However, when a soiled towel is rolled up toform a cylinder and is pushed through the opening I28 it drops down withits axis horizontal until it strikes the bar. The off-center position ofthe bar causes the longer, heavier end of the towel to swing in an arcaround and under the bar to interrupt the light beam and initiate theoperation of the apparatus before the shorter end of the towel which hasdropped over the bar slips off the bar and the towel drops into thecontainer.

Obviously, mechanism of the relatively simple type just described is notfoolproof against someone deliberately setting out to fraudulentlyobtain a towel from the apparatus. However, it is surprising howdifiicult it is to beat the apparatus by dropping other than a towelinto it. For example, a stiff bar dropped horizontally through theopening I 28 merely bounces and slides off the bar I 32 without swingingdown around under the bar as the limp towel does.

From the foregoing description, it is believed evident that the variousobjects .of my ginyention are" achieved by the provision .of apparatus:fOl'. automatically dispensing a clean towel when .a suitable check orsoiled towel is employed to initiate the operation of the apparatus. Thewaste and inefficiency of known methods of handling wiping material arelargely obviated. The apparatus is rugged and long-lived and is easilyserviced to supply fresh towels and remove soiled towels. It has beenfound that the cost of the apparatus is quickly absorbed in the savingseffected by its use, to say nothing ofthe improved factory appearanceand safety, and the good morale effect on the workman who knows he canalways get a nice clean towel'merely by turning in his old towel andwithoutarguing with the store room clerk.

It will be recognized that many of the advantages of -my invention willbe retained even though'the apparatus above described and illustrated indetail in the drawings is modified, as shown in Fig. -8, by eliminatingthe-motor 36, gear box 40, and the reversing motor control, and withthis mechanism being replaced by a simple hand lever I52 which can bemoved up and down to oscillate the frame it down to pickup position andback up to discharge position. In the hand lever machine of Fig. 8 likereference numerals.

but with the suffix a added have been used to indicate like parts. Therelay l l8 acts to release a solenoid type electric lock 156 on the handlever. Of course, the magnets 18*, switch I02, relay H and switch 93would still be employed together with the photoelectric cell 4 and thelight l w Therefore, while in accordance with the patent statutesl havespecifically illustrated and described one embodiment of my invention,it should be particularly understood that I am not limited thereto orthereby, but that the scope of my invention is defined in the appendedclaims.

What I claim is:

1. Towel-dispensing apparatus comprising elevator means adapted toreceive a stack of towels, a towel delivery chute, means for picking thetop towel off of the stack and for dropping it in the delivery chute,motor means for operating the towel picking means and for raising theelevator means the thickness of one towel, a light beam, photoelectriccell means normally energized by the light beam and adapted to initiatethe operation of the motor means when a soiled towel is returned to theapparatus, to thereby break the light beam, a cabinet surrounding theapparatus through which the delivery chute extends, said cabinet havingan opening adjacent the light beam to receive the soiled towel, and abar positioned parallel to the light beam and vertically above it, butoff-center of the cabinet opening and below the opening, and about whichthe towel swings when rolled and pushed through the opening. Y

2. Towel-dispensing apparatus comprising -ele-' vator means adapted toreceive a stack of towels, 'a towel delivery chute, means for pickingthe top towel off the stack and for dropping it in the delivery chute,motor means for operating the towel picking means and for raising theelevator means the thickness of one towel, a light beam, photoelectriccell means normally energized by the light beam and adapted to initiatethe operation of the motor means when a soiled towel is returned to theapparatus, to thereby break the light beam, and a cabinet surroundingthe apparatus through which the delivery chute extends,

6 said cabinet having .an opening adjacent the light beam to receive thesoiled towel.

3. Towel-dispensing apparatus comprising elevator means adapted toreceive a stack of towels, a towel delivery chute, means for picking thetop towel off of the stack and for dropping it in the delivery chute,motor means for operating the towel picking means and for raising theelevator means the thickness of one towel, a light beam, andphotoelectric cell means normally energized by the light beam andadapted to initiate the operation of the motor means when a soiled towelis returned to the apparatus, to thereby breakthe light beam.

4. Dispensing apparatus for towels and the like, including a platformsupporting a stack of towels, means for picking the top towel off thestack, a motor for operating the picking means,

a photoelectric cell, a light beam directed into the photoelectric cell,a time delay relay in circuit with the photoelectric cell for closingthe motor circuit but normally held open as long as the light beam isnot interrupted, means for reversing the motor after it has been drivenin one direction a selected distance, and means for receiving a soiledtowel and for directing it to interrupt the, light beam.

5. Dispensing apparatus for towels and the like, including a platformsupporting a stack of towels, means for picking the top towel off thestack, a motor for operating the picking means, a photoelectric cell, alight beam directed into the photoelectric cell, a time delay relay incircuit with the photoelectric cell for closing the motor circuit butnormally held open as long as the light beam is not interrupted, andmeans for receiving a soiled towel and for directing it to interrupt thelight beam.

7 6. Dispensing apparatus for towels and the like, including a stack oftowels, means for picking the top towel off the stack, a motor foroperating the picking means, electric means for closing the motorcircuit, and means for receiving a soiled towel and for directing it tooperate the electric means to close the motor circuit.

7. Dispensing apparatus for towels and the like, including a platformadapted to receive a stack of towels, means mounting the platform forvertical movement, an oscillating shaft, towel pickup means carried bythe shaft and movable to and from a position above the stack, meansopcrate-d by the shaft and adapted to move the platform Vertically thethickness of a towel upon each oscillating movement of the shaft, andcounterweight means associated with the platform.

8. Dispensing apparatus for towels and the like, including a platformadapted to receive a stack of towels, means mounting the platform forvertical movement, an oscillating shaft, towel pickup means carried bythe shaft and movable to and from a position above the stack, and meansoperated by the shaft and adapted to move the platform vertically thethickness of a towel upon each oscillating movement of the shaft.

9. Towel-dispensing apparatus including means for supporting a stack oftowels, means for picking a towel off the stack, electric motor meansfor operating the picking means, a cabinet in which the apparatus ishoused, and a control for the motor means comprising a light beam, aphotoelectric cell against which the light beam is directed, saidcabinet having an opening slightly wider than a towel and slightlyhigher than the diameter of a towel rolled from end to end, said openingbeing positioned above the light beam, a bar mounted parallel to thelight beam and beneath the opening and off-center of the opening,whereby any solid objects dropped through the opening either miss thelight beam or strike the bar and bounce off, but the rolledup toweldropped through the opening strikes the bar and the longer and heavierend of the bar swings down around and under the bar to interrupt thelight beam, while the shorter and lighter end droops limply around thebar to allow a temporary pivoting swing of the longer end of the towelabout and under the bar as described.

10. In combination, for operation on a towel or the like, a cabinet,motor means inside the cabinet, a control for the motor means comprisinga light beam, a photoelectric cell against which the light beam isdirected, said cabinet having an opening Slightly wider than a towel andslightly higher than the diameter of a towel rolled from end to end,said opening being positioned above the light beam, and a bar mountedparallel to the light beam above the beam and beneath the opening andoff-center of the openmg.

11. Dispensing apparatus for towels including a cabinet, a stack ofclean towels in the cabinet, means for removing a clean towel from thetop of the stack, means to receive the clean towel from the removingmeans and to pass the clean towel to the outside of the cabinet, meansto release the removing means for operation, and means in the cabinetfor receiving a soiled towel and for directing it to actuate the releasemeans.

TREVOR E. EVANS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 766,441 Greenwood Aug. 6, 19041,657,364 Bartlett Jan. 24, 1928 1,853,926 Parfett Apr. 12, 19321,929,273 Crago Oct. 3, 1933 1,987,835 Love Jan. 15, 1935

